Happy Ending Delayed: A Fairy Tale
by Namiyo11
Summary: What if the fairy tale ending didn't work out quite right? Prince Inuyasha was cursed and placed in a Tower to await his true love's rescue, or until a century passed. Guess which one came first?
1. A curse, and also a mistake

Happy ending delayed: A fairy tale

By Namiyo11

Chapter 1-A curse, and also a mistake

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Once Upon a Time, in a castle by the sea...

The woman in labor groaned.

Outside, a worried Lord sat waiting anxiously. It had gone on for some time, for far longer than the child's brother's birth. Was all well? His new Lady, such a delicate woman...

Shadows and scent made him look up. His eldest child, and an old woman. One who smelled...unwholesome.

"What manner of thing have you brought, Sesshomaru?" Inutaisho demanded.

"Merely a woman demanding audience, Lord Father. Tsubaki, Witch of the Waste," the young Lord gestured to her, and she scuttled in to bow.

"I know the old hag. I've no time for her!"

"I can ensure your bride will survive her delivery, Lord." He paused at that.

"My own powers will-"

"Tenseiga, though mighty," another bow, "can only do so much. Would you have her be forced to endure death, only to return barren? Those saved can produce no new life, Lord. My lore has taught me this. Your unborn daughter will be all she may have, and the girl will likely be barren herself-if the child is indeed even born. With my powers, I can save them, and they will bring forth more children, Lord. Your bride need not suffer the pains of death in her childbed. Your daughter need never suffer the sorrow of empty arms and her husband's reproach."

It was true. Tenseiga did cause them to be unable to breed. Another groan echoed...and his heart twisted. Izayoi suffered now, and he could not aid her.

"What price?"

"A time of service for two lives, Lord. You must give me the child for a time," Tsubaki answered. Even Sesshomaru was shocked.

Oh, no.

"WHAT?!" he roared, and a hand went for Souunga.

"Lord Father, listen to the woman. Stay your hand," Sesshomaru was almost amused as his mind spun quickly around the possibilities. He was not fond of his new Mother, and this might prove amusing. "If she offers nothing, then slay her."

"Speak quickly," the powerful Lord growled.

"A curse hangs loosely, ready to strike. A prophesy must be fulfilled. Either give me the daughter the seers tell me resides within your Lady's womb-a child born of a human and youkai, both of blood noble, or curse them both to death and emptiness. I promise no harm will come to the babe while in my care, but it must be done. Choose quickly, mighty Lord. They have but little time," Tsubaki said knowingly.

The youkai stood still.

"Lord Father, it seems there is little choice, if you do not desire the Lady to suffer," Sesshomaru said dryly.

Inutaisho looked furious-but he at last nodded.

"Should you lie, you will beg for death, witch."

"I will suffer far worse then mere death. Your Lady and the child will be safe delivered within the hour. Then I shall collect, and take my leave. We have a pact, and now I go."

Tsubaki was as good as her word.

But there was a slight problem.

It was most definitely not a girl child. Tsubaki was speechless as she held the infant. The seers had prophesied a female! Lying things, they would pay for this!

But a pact was a pact.

"Very well," Tsubaki looked a bit lost, but she pronounced the doom nonetheless.

"Hear now the fate of the Princess-er-Prince. He will be kept in a tower, until the day his true love comes to free him, one of great power and er...might," she looked pained, but continued. "A champion true, who shall have the wit and skill to defeat the youkai that shall lie in guardianship, evade the traps, and will free him. The Champion shall then have him to-husband."

"It was that prophesy?" Inutaisho looked quite distressed. This happened about every three centuries or so. The beautiful Princess waited, a warrior freed her, and they lived happily ever after. The important point being that it was always a Princess. Always. A Prince in the picture as the damsel? That was new. Embarrassing and new. Even Izayoi looked pained, and not just for yielding up her boy, either. A daughter of a warrior Clan of repute, this was not the kind of future she had in mind for any son of hers.

Maybe being the quester. Not the damned quest!

Sesshomaru managed to excuse himself before the smile of amusement was uncontrollable. Both Inutaisho and Izayoi stared at one another. He would not be the first to react so. A great shame had been visited on them.

"Surely there is another way?" Izayoi asked, thinking perhaps they could find a way...there were so few female warriors, and fewer who would dare so much for a hanyou, even a Lord.

"Very well. In one century...he may leave of his own will," the witch announced. A century? Even if...if he was not freed long before then...she would never see the child in this life. She was a human, with a human's span of years.

"A mother's boon is then added," Izayoi said grimly. At Tsubaki's start, the worn looking woman glared, "I know this tale! My boon is my right!"

"Speak quickly, then."

"A gift I give. He shall meet his true love and they shall love and be happy together forever after! Someone will come for him!" she intoned, making Tsubaki's eyes harden. Stubborn woman. She asked for the impossible, and they all knew it. But let her have her thread of hope.

So long as she, Tsubaki...had a babe to use. To take the curse that threatened to ensnare the witch herself.

Tsubaki soon left on a cloud, a newborn babe in her arms.

As for the Lord and his Lady, they died not long after. The Lady of an accident when her Lord was not to home to save her-and the Lord, they said, of a broken heart. Lord Sesshomaru, embarrassed, said nothing of his younger brother. Encouraged silence and disinformation, in fact.

The Prince was left to rot.

One hundred years later. A large, drafty, leaky room in a crumbling tower...

"Fish stew," a bored voice demanded of the large, covered basket. The covering cloth glowed.

A large bowl appeared within, and he unveiled it and picked it up. Inuyasha sighed around him. Same old same old. His chambers high in the top of a tall tower, guarded by clever traps and a youkai. He glared up at a leaking roof and the pot that was set under it and sighed as he sat to eat, a rich, costly kimono draped around his slightly plump frame.

Same old pink and gold curtained bed, same old girly tapestries, same old magic basket that delivered food and small necessities, same old magic bath that filled with hot water and flower petals regularly. Same old magic firepit that produced a fire that needed no tending. Nothing changed, nothing aged, nothing grew worn. The curse saw to that.

Then there were the same old scroll shelves full of scrolls on everything from how to run a country estate to cookery to arranging flowers, same old table and mats, the same old loom, same old cradle, same old everything. Everything needed to make sure he was the perfect wife and mother.

Tsubaki had prepared well, but had been unable to change many things for the gender of her charge once she'd invested so much magic in readying the Tower. Nor had she been overly inclined to bother. He was just lucky the kimonos he wore were for a man, not a woman.

So dull.

So very, very dull.

If he were a woman...he'd have been out of here years ago! But no warrior was going to ride up and save him. Even if they did-they'd have lost. That youkai was no joke. He took his guardianship seriously. He was careful to explain that to Inuyasha.

The shitheaded monster was the only company he had since he was ten, and the witch Tsubaki stopped sending Shikigami to attend to his needs. They didn't talk often, and when they did, it usually ended with the bastard telling him how stupid it was that he was stuck here guarding a hanyou until a challenger defeated him. There were no challengers. There would be none.

"Maybe the earth will shake the tower down! It'll fall on us both and end our misery!" and a cruel laugh. That had been...been...last spring. Yes. The last time they talked had been in spring.

It hadn't been all that great when he'd been cursed into living here, an abandoned little tower then...it was worse now. If it fell completely, it would kill him as he dropped five floors with a tower on top of him. That would also free the youkai.

Only the pact protected him from the bastard hastening it as years passed and impatience set in.

Like the hanyou didn't already know this. He sighed and again read the book of history as he ate. The topic? Female samurai. Brave, lovely women warriors. Youkai slayers had warrior women. He could live with a tajiya bride. Or a samurai. Or any woman with a pulse at this point.

Hell, after years of having nothing to do but read up on how to be the perfect wife thanks to Tsubaki's stupidity in readying this little nightmare lovenest...he figured he could charm any woman into mush. If that was how they acted-he then knew how they thought, how they felt, and how they would react. If not, he'd bed her senseless and make her fall for him! The romance tales all said that worked too, kinda.

He really wished he knew how a woman felt.

"Naked women, basket!" he asked with a hopeful look.

Nope. Although it had delivered the scrolls on tantric sex, women's cycles, and the intimate massage manual when he became a man. He read two of those...rather more than was strictly healthy. Also the childbirth scroll for the pictures. Inuyasha had memorized those, since he would take what he could get. Apparently the perfect bride was also supposed to be an animal in the bedroom.

Kami, he hoped she was. With long legs, perky tits, and a nice ass. They'd start with chapter one and work their way through the scrolls three times before he let her rest!

Bad thoughts. Well, he could spend time with the ladies seeking to expand their spiritual development through sex for a bit...he dropped the empty bowl into the basket and sighed. Nothing else to do. He'd mastered all the fucking womanly arts years ago, hated weaving and spinning, and found flower arranging more dull then watching water drip through his roof when it rained.

Jerking off to nude pictures, trading insults with the Guardian, and eating weren't much, but they were all he had.

A month and a half later. Snowing outside, he could hear it slither along the sides of the tower through the shutters over the windows.

He heard...laughter. Screaming. Going to the window, he stared.

The ogre was jumping up and down in the snow? Dancing. He was pretty sure that was some sort of dance.

"Haha! FREEDOM!!" Seeing his so-called charge at the window, he pointed and bowed mockingly, "you are the saddest thing in the world! You ass! You lame, miserable joke! I am free! You are free! We are free!"

"What are you yelling about, creature?!" he bellowed.

"It's the new year! One hundred years! The compact is ended! I can leave this sad place! You-you aren't even worth eating, boy! No one came for you! No one cares! Rot up there as you wish, halfbreed!"

"There's no challenger! You lie!"

"Hah! I got word today! I am free, and you are a sad, sad, idiot! Too pathetic to eat!! Hahahah!"

The shocked Prince watched as the creature went into the base of the tower, came back out with a huge bundle, opened the gate and...left.

Author's Notes- I'm fond of fairy tales, always have been. Oddly, this came to me in a rush while I was working on the outline for my novel for NaNoWriMo last November. So here it is, jotted and posted for your reading pleasure. It's completed. Enjoy!-Namiyo


	2. The curse has ended, but all is not well

Chapter 2-A curse has ended, but not all is well

I do not own Inuyasha or related characters.

Prince Inuyasha was scared.

It took him two days to get up the courage to open the door in the floor of the room. The door he'd been under a compulsion never to open just as he literally could not go out the windows. The door to the steps that led to the way out. The trap laden, deadly steps. They were supposed to be bad. Very bad. But he steeled himself to try.

Why? Because the basket had ceased to deliver food, no matter how loudly he yelled. The fire had gone cold. Plus the tub ceased to provide hot water as well! No food, no fire, no baths. Nothing.

He smelled only a trace of the scent of unmistakable magic that had once been so powerful in here.

They looked alright. A normal trap door, it was a bit stiff though. He saw a painted sign on the other side of it that made his lips thin as he read it.

-Welcome, Champion. You have succeeded in your Quest. Your reward awaits you.-

He grimly began his decent.

It hurt. Not in the way he expected, either. The traps had been designed to kill people. Kill them...a long, long time ago. The first clue to how long it had been one on the second set of steps he came to.

It looked like dry rot had gotten to the wood, but the spikes were still embedded in the rotten wood of every third step. He edged through carefully, wishing he'd brought a lamp.

Then the cracked pot of...oil? It was hanging over the third set of steps, past a tiny landing. It looked like it had cracked some time ago. Was it supposed to be hot oil? Had it...Inuyasha just sighed. It apparently never had a chance to stop her.

The fourth set was-huh. He cautiously checked and found a log was lying across the steps with bits of rotten rope around it. He'd never paid much attention to sounds without a sign of a Champion, it could've fallen years ago. He never would've noticed.

The next set, the first staircase leading up, had five trick boards. They squeaked, and he heard a creaking sound. Nothing happened, though.

So. This was the bottom of his Tower.

He poked around, and saw-where the ogre had slept. A bare spot and a small firepit in one corner, and a larder of sorts. Game, and some dried fish hung in the rafters. Inuyasha forced himself to go to the massive entryway. An empty courtyard, decrepit walls, a small, ornamental fishpond and an open gate in the snow.

The world was a big place. It was waiting right outside. But-he was supposed to not be alone anymore when he faced it. No one had come for him. No true love, no woman warrior of renown. Not even a relative? He was hanyou, his youkai kin had to know of the curse breaking if the Guardian was told...right?

He was still all alone.

From years of looking outside, Prince Inuyasha knew he was in the middle of thick forest, and that there was no village or town near. That meant he would have to go look for people, get directions to his native lands, and then find his family. Alone and armed with two small knives and some dower goods for a woman who had never come for him. With no experience of the world save through scrolls.

That was the day he decided there was no place like home.

It was...not an easy winter. The food the ogre left was enough to last the season for him, especially with the cooking scrolls that helped a lot when it came to stretching a meal. He spent much of his time learning. Or rather putting theory into practice. How to find wood, how to collect water, how to do a dozen things he'd never bothered with thanks to magic. He managed to adapt, with a constant worry. The ogre had not bothered to eat him-but that didn't mean others would hold back. So he wracked his brains and the scrolls to figure out how to protect himself.

He hated every moment.

But as a year passed, he discovered all sorts of fun new things.

How to fish, and how to stock the fishpond to get more fish easily. How to hunt game. The fishing was doable, but the hunting was not as easy. How to find edible and healing plants. That went well. Thank you, herbalist and gardening scrolls. How to find seedlings and plant them and tend them, thanks to the farming manuals. Alright-so he didn't have several hundred peasants with farm implements and draft animals to order to do the work. But he had himself and enough information to know what to do. Sort of. One scroll he pored over in particular every spare moment he had. The one he really was betting his life on.

Tactics for defending one's castle when besieged.

As it had been when he was trapped...he barely noticed the time pass. So Winter was followed by Spring, and Summer, and Fall.

The first attacks came with the autumn. Local youkai who had finally gotten up the courage to investigate the now ogre-less tower. He managed to protect what was his with the aid of some of the same things that had kept him safe before. Traps, and courage, youkai strength and a bit of ingenuity. With...his own accidentally discovered powers. They were eventually convinced the place was not worth the trouble. Inuyasha discovered he could survive some truly nasty wounds while convincing them.

His chambers changed as he repaired and trimmed kimonos, and learned to carve tools-with his claws. His precious knives had to be conserved. When he was sorting things and found the hand mirror, he was shocked at his own reflection. An indolent, soft Princeling had turned into a thin, hard man with suspicious eyes. It was shoved into a chest with the other crap that wasn't useful at the moment.

Years rolled onwards.

Fifty years after the ending of the curse.

One day, he was working in his garden when a bright light burst from the sky! Shading his eyes, he stared up. A bit of...something fell from the sky!

A shooting star? No. A little shiny crystal sliver. He picked it up, frowned, and took it inside to place it with his stuff. Pretty. A shame...she would've liked it, he was certain. 'She' of course, was his promised love. Or, as he liked to think of her now-the Bitch Who Never Came!

A month later. Rain was falling.

The gate was very loud! Miroku wanted to swear when it screamed protest at being opened.

"Kagome, are you sure there's a Shard here?" a monk looked worried as he followed the oddly dressed woman inside. Sango was no happier as the trio made their way in.

They'd had to slip past half a dozen nasty traps to reach this place! Someone was very determined to keep out unwelcome guests. The monk and slayer had heard of this castle, and so far it lived up to it's reputation. The Bleak Tower. A Jewel Shard would end up in the Bleak Tower! Even youkai shunned this place.

There were supposed to be both ghosts and a dragon here in the crumbling tower that loomed over them. Legend said a Princess had died here while waiting for her lost love to rescue her. The time traveler who had led them here peered up as she pushed her bike inside with an umbrella in her free hand...and shivered as her eyes widened.

"At the top!" she announced.

"I sense we are not alone!" Miroku said suddenly.

"No shit." With that strange, rough voice-a trap was sprung as he barely glanced at the intruders. Part of the ground dropped away to reveal bamboo lovingly sharpened at the bottom.

They barely got out of the way!

"Kirara!" Sango yelled, and the neko managed to get her and Miroku to safety, even as Kagome's bike hit the bottom of the pit!

She hung desperately to the edge of the trap, and screamed.

Inuyasha stopped, hand on the release for another trap, one that would send roughmade spears at them.

"Could it be?" a stunned hanyou breathed. For a moment, crazy hope filled him. A stupid, half remembered wish from the old days. Could they be...Champions come to claim him? If that was so, why bring a monk? Why two women? He peered at them from his hiding place.

Kagome managed to swung a leg over and the monk dove off Kirara to aid her. From the day they'd met at Kaede's village some miles away, he'd been fighting alongside her. Sango had joined them not long after, when the Thunder Brothers had killed her fighting group. They had helped avenge them and regain the Shards the creatures had. Ever since, the Tajiya had been their friend and ally, and her village their helpers.

Miroku noted there were no further attacks.

Inuyasha shivered. Yes. Women warriors at last. One a tajiya from the armor that he'd memorized years ago, complete with a brave mount she rode with pride! The other...he had no idea what she was. But he saw a bow and quiver with her. A warrior too!

"Freak!" Kagome yelled. Miroku's hand had slipped to her rear as he got her safely on solid ground. The monk smiled as Inuyasha watched them avidly. This woman was in a funny little kimono, and carrying a large pack. Odd. But he sniffed carefully. She smelled like magic. So did the monk. He knew that was a monk from the scrolls. The man stepped forward, staff ready, and looked around.

"I warn you-we will have the Shard! Hand it over, and we'll leave the tower peacefully! But we will slay you if we must!" Miroku yelled. So. They...were here for something else, then. Not for him. They weren't Champions. Then they weren't welcome!

"What the fuck is a Jewel Shard, trespassers? I ain't got one! You ain't challengers and Champions! You ain't got any business here! Go away and I'll let you live!"

"Yes you do! Up at the top of the Tower!" the little, oddly dressed one yelled. He glanced back at his home. No. He didn't. Inuyasha knew his dower goods like the back of his hand. Also his acquired stuff. No 'Jewel Shard' was up there.

"Could this creature not know what one is?" Sango asked cautiously as they regrouped.

"Perhaps. This is rather isolated. He also seems to be willing to allow us to leave when most possessors of the Shards would kill us to take our own. It is possible that it is a guardian remnant from the days when the Princess dwelled within. I sense it is a youkai, not a spirit. Meaning-it might have no interest in anything but guarding the Tower itself," Miroku said cautiously. Odd. There was no lost spirit haunting this place.

He would have expected the Princess's spirit to linger if she died under such tragic circumstances.

"The legend does claim a guardian was here and there were traps. That would explain the traps in the woods and the pit," Sango agreed.

"How sad. Protecting a place after she's gone," Kagome answered.

"It is. Maybe we can reason with it, but I hold out little hope," Miroku said sadly.

"I can hear every word, you know! Want to try explaining what the hell is going on?" the rough voice yelled out from somewhere they couldn't see.

"You're willing to call a truce?" Sango called.

"Maybe. I ain't attacking now, am I? Your word?"

"Given. Please, we only came to get the Shard back. It's a little gem, and we-I...sort of lost them. I need to collect them all, including the one you have up there. Can't we talk about it? I promise we won't hurt you or take anything that belongs to you!" Kagome asked, looking in the direction the voice came from.

Silence.

"She's right. I am Miroku, a monk, and I give my word we would never disturb the Princess's resting place!"

"There ain't no Princess here. If you ain't after me or my stuff and just want something back you lost, then we ain't got a problem. You can have your thing back and then you can go. Wait here."

"Really? Thank you, brave guardian! Your Tower is very well defended, I'm sure you do a great job!" Kagome called excitedly as the rain began to fall harder.

He stopped for a moment, thinking, tempted to ask...and shook his head. Maybe the women had gotten past the traps and yes-even the youkai protecting the tower. But they weren't here for him. When he got back, they were huddled together, and trying to get the contraption out of his pit with a thin rope tied in a loop. Also arguing between themselves in the rain.

"We must leave, Kagome. If he returns it and we get a Shard without fighting, we must consider ourselves lucky. Guardians are notoriously uncooperative and unfriendly. It's their nature. We may have to abandon your bi-cycle as well," Miroku was saying.

"Maybe he'll let us have shelter! It can't hurt to ask and it's going to storm a lot more then this. Besides, I need my bike!" Kagome was arguing.

Whatever. He wanted them gone!

"Here. Now go." Kagome's jaw dropped as a Shard...flew through the air at them! She caught it.

"Wow," she grinned, and put it in a bottle.

"Thank you. We will go, and not trouble you again," Miroku bowed, holding his rain hat on with one hand.

"Fine."

"But-wait! Could we ask for shelter tonight? And help to get my bike out?" Kagome called. Her companions looked wary.

Silence again.

"Please? It's going to rain more! Don't send us out into it! Would the Princess have let people drown?" Damn it. These were just people on a Quest from the sound of it. Not opponents. A Prince was supposed to offer hospitality. Not that he could offer much. But still.

"Fine. You can stay tonight. Wait for me at the door to the Tower itself. Go in, and the traps will kill you."

So they stood there, shivering for awhile and wondering...and finally the tower door opened. A figure stood there nervously with his arms folded.

They all stared. Because he was dressed in patches. A kimono, layered for warmth...but made of patches of silk trimmed and added to finely woven, undyed cloth. Kagome guessed some sort of linen, maybe. Clean, serviceable, but odd. Barefoot, dog ears twitching, he watched them warily. The large logs hanging from ropes aimed at the door were a bit scary, too.

"Alright. Rules. Don't try the stairs, they're trapped. Don't walk around loose. The floor is trapped. Avoid anything that looks odd. It's probably trapped. I won't save you from them. There's a firepit in the corner you can use. Camp there, stay there inside the lines of baskets I put down for you, and don't bother me," he explained and pointed, and they removed their shoes and walked carefully. Baskets were indeed set out and showed a path to a small area lit by a fire that crackled. Fish were-why, he had put out supper!

"Thank you!" Kagome exclaimed.

"Sure," he just nodded.

"Thank you indeed. Your kindness is more than we expected," Miroku answered.

"Yeah. I'm going to lock up, " and with that, he went out into the rain. They heard the gate slam shut and lock. A series of curses and the sounds of cranks and things moving at different points around the Tower made them look at each other as they set up camp.

"He's...what do you think he's doing?" Kagome asked.

"I'm thinking setting traps for the night. It would be best not to do anything but what he told us," Sango said with a frown. It was spotless and lit with a few torches. Old, half repaired steps led upwards, and they saw-laundry? Yep. Laundry, and some rough made drying racks were set to one side, the kind used to dry herbs. It looked like a very large workroom.

"I agree. Although I care not for the feeling of being surrounded by so many ways to get killed, I cannot fault the hospitality. We are dry and have a meal and a fire. No need to press our luck," Miroku commented.

The strange youkai came back in and shut the door, barring it with a heavy log that dropped into rough slots. Without a word, he went up the stairs.

The stairs he'd never figured out a way to replicate the traps on. That was more then a one person job.

Author's Notes- A bit sad, isn't it? I rather thought so. Thanks for Reading!-Namiyo


	3. My Princess has come?

Chapter 3-My Prince(ss) has come?

Inuyasha isn't mine.

"It was kind of him to give us food. I doubt we need to set much of a watch tonight, either," Sango noted over the fish they were roasting.

"It was. He must be lonely here," Kagome said sadly.

"Yes. It is unfortunate. He may be bound to this place, Kagome, and has no choice but to stay," Miroku answered. He then explained the concept of a Guardian Pact to her, and she felt bad.

"You mean he can't leave because of some magical spell?"

"That's right," the monk nodded. She sighed.

"I think that's terrible! Can't we help him somehow?"

"I doubt it. It might be unwise to try. We are safe here likely because he is convinced we do not intend to harm anything here. That might be interpreted as trying to remove the Guardian so we could loot the Tower."

"I see," Kagome wrapped her arms around her knees and stared at the fire as the storm raged. But her eyes kept going to the stairs.

Upstairs, he glared at the almost illegible sign for the first time in years. Stalking past it, he shut his door and sighed. They weren't Champions. He reminded himself of that. Merely guests.

But Prince Inuyasha couldn't help himself. He walked over to his clothes chest and opened it, shaking out a rich blue outfit. He still kept a few kimonos from the old days. A pity they'd begun to show age when the curse was broken, like so much else in this room. They also were a bit short and loose now. He'd grown and thinned out.

Glancing at his own supper on the perfectly normal fire he kept going himself, he made sure the shutters were secure and tossed the thin old silk on top of the chest.

He washed up in the bowl he kept full of water, ate, changed into a worn sleeping robe of fine silk he liked for its comfort, and went to bed. Even the ladies of his scrolls had lost their appeal years ago. They reminded him of too much. Even that...got old.

Downstairs, a miko couldn't sleep.

Kagome just knew that there had to be a way to help him! Maybe if she talked to him, or something. Plus her own curiosity ate at her. Something kept urging her to go upstairs. She couldn't help it. She got up when everyone else was asleep, and took a guttering torch from it's socket.

Kirara, however, was a light sleeper. She rose and trotted over from Sango's blankets to block her. Kagome sighed down at the kitten looking neko when she mewed.

"Kirara? I just-I want to see what's up there."Kirara couldn't talk, but the disapproval was manifest.

"He said the stairs were trapped, right? What if...what if you carried me? If we flew, no traps, right?" Kagome asked as the idea came to her. The cat looked uncertain.

"Please? I just want to try and help him! If it's dangerous, we'll come right back and leave in the morning. I promise!" she whispered. Kagome bit her lip and tried, "a new catnip mouse, and a fresh fish when I go through the well again?" A smile.

Alright. Kirara did have a price. She transformed. The girl put the torch back. One thing about Kirara, her own flames gave plenty of light. Kagome mounted and the neko carefully rose upwards. They both kept an eye out, and saw a nasty net was hanging in the shadowy heights. They avoided it, and rose higher.

She saw the beat up stairs and spikes glinted on steps as they flew upwards.

"Look! A door. Could that be where the Princess lived? Maybe he has a space there?" Kagome breathed. It looked like the entire top floor was another room that was reached by way of a trap door.

"Do you think the stairs there might be safe?" she asked the neko, who checked. They seemed sound to her nose, so she landed carefully, very carefully, on them. Kagome stood there and read the almost faded off lettering, tracing it by Kirara's light.

"Welcome, Champion. You have...succeeded in your Quest. Your reward awaits you?" Kagome softly read it out loud. He'd mentioned Champions. Must have been the brave warriors who came for the Princess.

How sad.

"Stay there with Sango, Kirara. I'll call you when I'm ready to come back down," the girl asked. The neko was uncertain...but finally left.

Kagome opened the door carefully. It swung up easily, having been well cared for in the last few decades.

In the bed-golden eyes flicked open, and got very, very big as the fire suddenly burst into full life from banked coals. The lamps lit! The trace of magic! It was active again!

He heard a soft gasp as he smelled the...the...woman...who'd been told the traps were active, and had braved them anyways. Who had her Jewel. Who had to have come for him. He smelled her.

No.

He smelled-his Champion!

Inuyasha sat bolt upright! He was too stunned to say anything. Terrified of being wrong. Almost as scared as he was of being right.

Kagome had gasped when the lights suddenly appeared.

It was a room. One that looked like it was decorated in wealthy shabby, if she had to name it. Large, with windows on all sides. A tub in the corner, shelves and hangings, faded paintings on the walls. A table and a large basket on it. The gardening implements and improvised weapons were clearly added after the place had been decorated, along with a carefully drawn map of the surrounding area. Scrolls were unrolled on the table, what she could see of them showed pictures of plants and one had-she wasn't sure what that was. Like a castle, maybe? Something seemed wrong. Something wasn't right here...

A big, curtained bed with an occupant that made her freeze.

Her eyes went to a silk kimono on one of the chests-and she knew.

"You...aren't the guardian! You're the Princess! Were you cursed to be a man or something?"

He paused. Hm. Thick. She was rather thick.

"No. There was never a Princess here. Just me. Cursed to stay alone in this room until either I was claimed by my bride-or one hundred years passed."

"You mean..."

"Guess what came first?" he answered from the bed. A clawed hand pushed the curtain away and he stood slowly. She just stared at him.

That...was pity. He knew that was pity.

"Go away. You came too late, Champion. There's no one here for you."

"Really? I see someone," Kagome answered sadly.

"Unless you want to marry me, we ain't got much to discuss," he shot back. Arms folded as she all but watched the grim tatters of pride get wrapped around his thin frame.

"Marry...?" A squeak.

"Keh. That's the way this shit works. You overcame the obstacles to reach my chamber. See the fire and the lights? That means you won me and all you see here. Inuyasha, Inu Hanyou and Prince of the Western Lands. I'm supposed to marry you. You're standing in my dower room. Fifty years ago, we'd be naked by now and celebrating your victory and our future wedding, Champion. Get it?" he answered, pointing at the lights, and then the bed.

"Um..." Kagome turned beet red.

"Yeah. What I thought. Congratulations. Now go away," he turned to go back to bed.

"W-wait. You're telling me I walked into another fairy tale?" Inuyasha stopped and did turn at that.

"You-what do you mean?"

"One where I'm...Prince Charming and you're the fair damsel?"

"Prince...Charming?" he was lost-and it showed.

Oh, no. She started laughing! Clutching her side, doubled over laughing!

"How dare you!"

The laughing stopped.

"I..." she stopped talking when she was suddenly grabbed by the arms! Nose to nose, he glared-even as he realized she was as lovely as he'd hoped she'd be...she was a woman...his Champion...but the rage overrode it. Damn it!

She even smelled good.

"How dare you!? I waited for you! For a hundred years! All my damned life I waited, and no one fucking came! No one! Not a single Champion. Then the curse was fucking lifted, and I was left here to fucking rot! Alone, get it? The only people who came were youkai who wanted to kill me to take my home away. Then you-and now you want to fucking laugh?!"

"I'm sorry," Kagome whispered.

She was let go.

"I meant it. Get out. Take your allies and get away from me. Get out of my Tower and drown in the storms for all I care, Champion."

Kagome hesitated.

"Prince Inuyasha?"

"What? I said-"

"My name is Kagome, you know. Besides, don't you mean...my Tower?"

"Excuse me...?" a dangerous tone crept into his voice as he glared, ears twitching.

"Well-" her fingertips tapped together, "I won, right? So, everything I see here is mine."

"Sure. What the hell! Have it," he snapped, hands flung out in exasperation.

"Including you?"He just stared at her.

"I don't know what you're playing at, but it ain't funny! It's pretty obvious you didn't come here to find a husband! Did you? Didn't think so."

"No. It isn't. I shouldn't have laughed," Kagome admitted. "It's just, I'm already in a fairy tale, sort of."

"What the hell is a fairy tale?"

"This, for one thing. It's kinda hard to explain."

"Keh. I believe that."

"Can't we-just talk?"

"No." A headshake. "If you ain't willing to go through with it, I don't care."

"You mean...marry you?"

A nod.

"I'm too young to get married. Besides, I have a Quest. I have to get the rest of these, and I'm not even out of school yet, Prince Inuyasha," Kagome lifted her bottle and showed him the Shards.

"What kind of Quest is it, anyways? Not that I care." The last was carefully added.

"Yes. You see-" she told him. Time travel. The Well. The Jewel, and the accident that led to it's being broken. He wasn't sure he was buying any of it.

But damn if she didn't seem sincere.

"Oh." That was all he could think to say.

"Yeah. So, it's not that I wouldn't marry you. It's just that I can't now."

His head tilted as he considered.

"I can wait. I mean, you could get the Jewel thing and come back when you can marry, if you wanted to." She didn't know how to take the offer. Kagome bit her lip as he stood there uncertainly.

"Why wait? You could-come with us! You've got to be pretty strong to keep this place and smart if you worked out all those traps we saw in the woods and here! We could use the help! Honest! You don't have to live here all alone."

"I...can't."

"Yes, you can. We'll all be together."

"No. It's too late for me to go questing. I don't know anything but the Tower and how to be a good husband. I wouldn't last a day out there without a wife."

"Oh...I don't believe that! I can't just leave you here! Isn't there any way I could convince you?"

"Say you'll marry me, and prove it," he told her intently, suddenly taking her hands.

"I..."

"Well? Will you be my wife? I'll be a really good husband! Honest! I know all about how, and-and I'd love you, and treat you good every day...my Kagome," Inuyasha hesitated as he used her name for the first time.

"I..." her eyes were huge.

"Please...?"

"Prince Inuyasha..." Kagome's mouth worked. He looked so desperately hopeful, it was all so sad, he didn't deserve this fate...he just wanted to know someone cared, that was all..."yes. When the Quest is finished, I'll marry you. You'll come with us and help us, and then I'll marry you. I'll prove it however you like." They could always break things off when he got used to the outside world. She'd help him, and he was strong, so he'd be really helpful...

That train of thought died when he took her in his arms and kissed her.

Kagome hadn't considered what her newly betrothed Lord would ask for as proof.

Downstairs, a monk and a tajiya were awakened by whooping and yells.

"Kirara!" Sango threw herself on the neko as Miroku climbed on behind her. The would be rescue party shot upwards...and the screams became intelligible. The neko hovered as they listened in shock. If Kirara could have-she would have blushed as hard as Sango.

Kagome did not need saving.

"Kirara. Take us down, please," Sango managed in a strangled voice.

"Remarkable outcome, don't you think?" Miroku asked, eyes avidly going to the ceiling, and then to a firm rump. His hand twitched.

"Not happening, Monk."

When the group left the next day, her new husband proudly walked beside the still blushing and somewhat stiffly moving young miko. Husband. Because Miroku had married them, alright.

At the bride's own request.

She would just have to explain to her family later. No choice. Why? Because he was a jerk and a tease, that was why! He'd sadly told her after the most intense, passionate night of her life-that there would be not even a kiss on the cheek until the wedding day he'd been promised.

It would be wrong, he said! Immoral, he said! Improper, he said! This was an impetuous act of gratitude, he said! They would just have to control themselves, he said! He'd meant it. She knew it.

No way.

Inuyasha silently blessed the scrolls as he walked hand in hand with a bride he was already feeling affection for. Kagome. His Champion and Princess. His wife. His woman. Apparently...like a perfect wife, good husbands were also expected to be animals in the bedroom.

He could live with that.

And so the Prince wed his Princess, and they lived Happily Ever After.

Mostly.

The End

Author's Notes- And we're done. Short but sweet, I hope. Thanks for Reading!-Namiyo


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